Hot Process Apple Cider Soap

Hot Process Apple Cider Soap: a sweetly scented spiced soap recipe – perfect for the crock pot.

When it comes to winter beverages, pumpkin spice may corner the coffee market, but there will always be room for hot mulled apple cider. The warm aromas of cinnamon, clove, and allspice blend beautifully with candy sweet apple in this easy to make crock pot soap. Perfect for beginning soap makers, our Hot Process Apple Cider Soap comes together quickly and consistently, making fragrant, richly lathering soap bars.

We used a blend of olive, babassu and cocoa butter to make up the bulk of this recipe. Our Hot Process Apple Cider Soap also includes a splash of moisturizing cranberry seed oil. This highly moisturizing carrier oil is perfect for superfatting. Its high antioxidant value makes it quite stable while it’s unique fatty acid profile makes it an excellent moisturizer.

Bright, sweet scents, also called top-notes, have a tendency to fade or burn off during saponification. Fruit or citrus scents are great examples. The hot process method allows soapers to add these finicky aromas later in the soaping process which gives them a better chance of making it into the final bar. We loved how this method preserved the sweet, tangy scent of our Winter Apple Candy Fragrance Oil. It smells great in our Hot Process Apple Cider Soap.

If you would prefer to use an all-natural product to scent your soap, try adding a tiny amount of our cinnamon bark essential oil instead. Just be sure to keep the percentage of essential oil below 0.07% as spice oils can be highly irritating to the skin if used in too high a ratio.

Hot Process Apple Cider Soap

Makes a little over 1 pound of soap

Ingredients

1. Melt stearic acid, cocoa butter, and babassu in crock pot set to high.
2. Once oils are fully melted, change heat to low and all olive oil.
3. Combine water and apple cider, then add lye. Let liquid cool for 30 minutes.
4.  Slowly pour the lye water into the crock pot, stirring gently.
5. Blend with stick blender until oils and water emulsify. Add apple sauce, and continue blending until mixture reaches a custard-like consistency.
6. Cover crock pot with plastic wrap or place the lid on top. (Use caution as the pot will be very hot.) Turn heat to low.
7. Keep an eye on the soap as it cooks for the next 60 minutes. The soap will begin to climb the walls of the pot as it goes through phases of cooking. If the soap rises too close to the top of the pot, gently stir it down and continue to cook – otherwise allow to soap to cook without stirring.
8. At this point the soap should appear thick and almost fluffy – like applesauce or mashed potatoes. Add cranberry seed oil and fragrance oil and fold into soap with spatula.
9. Quickly transfer soap to mold. Push mixture into corners and tamp mold several times to make sure soap is evenly distributed and to remove air pockets.
10. Allow soap to cool and harden overnight. When soap is firm and cool it should be unfolded and sliced into bars. Bars may be used right away, but will harden further if allowed to cool and cure for an additional seven days.

Shelf Life & Stability: Please note that the formulations featured here on The Natural Beauty Workshop have not been challenge tested for stability or shelf life, and may not be suitable for commercial use as-is. For more information on shelf life, stability, and working with preservatives, check out the following article from our Information Library.

Want more from-scratch soap making inspiration? Check out our recipes for Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Soap Bars and Cold Process Raspberry Geranium Soap Bars.